I’ve never much liked telling stories in that improvisational way. I much less secure and have to write things down, scratch them out, and revise, revise, revise. So, when my own children were young and visited Grandma, she would tell them Sammy tales which they would want me to retell when they came home. The first time they asked, I declined but promised to write some Sammy stories down to read the next night.
So, I wrote three tales that I would tell them when they asked. The first one is my mom’s foundational Sammy story where he sneaks into the milkman’s truck (a story that clearly originated in earlier times!). Another was actually a Christmas poem that I read to my daughters on Christmas Eve the year I wrote it as a Christmas gift for them. I also gave a copy of this one to my mom because it was my first Sammy story not based on one of her plots.
For years these and a couple other stories languished on my computer and in a desk drawer as my own children were growing up, and I hadn’t found a publisher for them. Recently, though, I was lucky enough to discover the talented daughter of a fried who agreed to illustrate one of the stories. With her sweet illustrations, I decided to publish it on my own to share with family, friends, and the world.
My mom passed away a few years ago, but her love for us and ours for her lives on. Now, her legacy can live even longer as my sisters and I share the stories with our children and my mom’s first great granddaughter and those still to come.
You can read Sammy the Kitten in the Milkman Adventure for free with Kindle Unlimited (I find Amazon often offers free trials, too) or buy a paper copy for snuggling up at bedtime.
